“Extreme poverty and social inequality establish the hegemony of fear and hatred ideology across the world,” Tsipras said.

“Tell me who of you would believe a few months ago that in the US today, the front-runner on behalf of the Republicans for the nomination of the candidate President would be Mr. Trump?” the leftist leader asked.

“And of course what this nomination marks, the ideas it represents, the appeal it reaches, and the threat to become even President – I hope we will not face this evil.”

EXCLUSIVE / Alexis Tsipras and Jeremy Corbyn will travel to Paris for an extraordinary pre-summit meeting ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels on 18 and 19 February. EurActiv France reports.

According to Tsipras, the rise of the extreme right is caused by the “ultimate surrender” of governance to financial markets, and the hegemony of neoliberal approaches to the economy.

“It is a historical duty of the European progressive forces to struggle for the recovery of the ideological hegemony of the left,” he argued.

First “coward” step

Referring to the recent refugee deal agreed on by EU leaders, he underlined that Europe was on a knife-edge, facing a triple crisis of economy, refugees and security, which is gradually being transformed into an “existential crisis”.

Tsipras stressed that the handling of the crisis by neoliberal forces “confirms our fears for the future of Europe”.

Tsipras emphasised, however, the significance of the refugee agreement first of all for the refugees themselves, but also for countries such as Greece and Italy, which will be transformed into “warehouses of souls”.

In an opinion piece for EurActiv’s partner Tagesspiegel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprasargues that the assumption that Germany is paying for the wages and pensions of the Greek people is “absolutely false”.

He added that Europe should change, as it “cannot have open borders to austerity [and] closed ones to persecuted people”.

Enhanced suppression in Turkey

Speaking at the same conference, Gabriele Zimmer, the German head of the leftist GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament, called the refugee agreement “illegal and inhuman”, saying it is not an option, “not even temporarily.”

The Die Linke MEP said that the deal would push Turkey deeper into an authoritarian regime and would legitimise the suppression of the freedom of press and the opposition.

“With this agreement, the Turkish government will decide upon the right of Kurds to reach the European Union, and I think this is a disaster.”

According to Zimmer, the German government estimates that 3.6 million refugees will arrive in Germany by 2020.

“Therefore our world will change and we ourselves will change. We must learn to live together in a society of tolerance, a democratic society.”

Jeremy Corbyn’s ascension to the leadership of the UK’s Labour Party is a sign that something hopeful is happening in the Socialists & Democrats, Gabriele Zimmer said in an interview with EurActiv Greece.

She also urged against any military action targeting refugee vessels, and to create legal ways for asylum seekers to enter European territory.

Cracks in neoliberalism

Alexis Tsipras also talked about the third bailout deal agreed last summer between Greece and its international lenders, saying that a left-wing government in Greece managed to “crack” the wall of neoliberalism.

“We did not smash it, but we hope that our efforts will have results,” he stated, citing the political developments in Portugal, in Spain, and the “left-wing shift of the Labour Party” in the UK and Ireland.

The Greek leader warned that Europe would have no future if it didn’t cope with the crises, and called Europe’s progressive forces to raise a democratic wall against the far-right and Nazism.

“Europe will either be re-founded on the basis of its founding principles and the political equality of states, or will not go ahead united for too long,” he concluded.

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Tsipras himself was seen to be an extreme choice at the time, and look at him now, mr Conventional, like I’m so worried about Trump? Donald is still very busy destroying the Republican party and he should not be disturbed until he is finished doing that. Trump is a populist, once elected he will turn 180′ around just like Tsipras did.

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anders

21/03/2016 12:34

Tsipras was litteraly sharing the physical space with the neo nazis from Golden Dawn, in Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece, in summer 2011, during the European mobilisations of the ‘indignados’. He used the same anti-european retoric, full of hatred and bigotry and this raised gave him the ticket to go from 4% to become a government.

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Jay

21/03/2016 16:03

Trump won’t destroy the Republican party but the congressional Freedom Caucus will.

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ivan burrows

21/03/2016 10:27

Something Tsipras should know all to well.

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”

-Margaret Thatcher

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anders

21/03/2016 12:37

It should also be noted that Mr Tsipras is still continuing the traditional nepotist tactics that suit well a populist agenda and secure votes for the future.

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Jay

21/03/2016 16:16

Capital accumulation is commonly called ‘economic growth’ but regardless of the terminology, it is capitalism’s driving force. Without growth, capitalism spirals downward, in crisis. Companies reduce their workforces, and this in turn shrinks the overall demand for goods and services and the tax revenues that governments collect. If prospects for grow sour, capitalists hold back from investment, further amplifying the crisis. In 2008, many of the world’s governments provided banks and corporations with billions in public money to erase bad debt and encourage further investment. Having bailed out corporate capital in its moment of global crisis, the same governments now… Read more »

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Martin Block

21/03/2016 15:06

Tsipras is simply parroting what others who are largely ignorant of the intricacies of the American political process are repeating. The populist Trump is being attacked by the Republicans for not being a “true conservative” and by the Progressive Democrats and Europeans for being “too conservative.” Donald Trump is simply a convenient excuse for the failed economic and social systems of much of Europe and the USA. If it were not Trump it would be someone else. The Greek drama is just one more story of the failures of socialism. The refugee crisis is the result of a stream of… Read more »

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Pletho

26/03/2016 02:12

Trump and his supporters are bordering on evil. He advocates torture and going after families of terrorists. I would call him evil but you can’t prosecute someone for crimes they haven’t committed yet. We should have no sympathy for terrorism but if Trump used torture and bizarrely killed families of terrorists while going on a violent jihad against the entire Muslim world, he, and any that supported him in committing war crimes, should go to jail and arguably face execution for war crimes… as the Nazis did post WW2 for similar behavior. On the flip side though, deluded Tsipiras bizarre… Read more »